LA Mayor Calls Wiesel 'One Of The Great Witnesses To History'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti marked the passing of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel Saturday, calling him "one of the great witnesses to history."
Wiesel's death was announced Saturday by Israel's Prime Minister.
Wiesel was 87.
Garcetti released this statement Saturday:
"With the death of Elie Wiesel, we have lost one of the great witnesses to history. Few wrote as eloquently or as forcefully about the horrors of the Nazi holocaust, and, more than anyone, he embodied the moral imperative never to repeat similar horrors in future. He will be mourned here in Los Angeles as he will be everywhere -- and his message will never be forgotten."
When he was 15 years old, Wiesel was held at Auschwitz, where his mother, father and one sister died.
Wiesel was one of the first survivors to write about his experience, and his book "Night" was ranked with Anne Frank's diary as standard reading about the Holocaust.
He went on to become one of the world's best-known voices against violence and oppression, writing more than 40 books.
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